Customer Reviews
Very Good Album - By: Ms. L. Gorthy, 02 Sep 2008 
Although I like Madonna & regard her as a tru icon, I'm not a huge super-fan. Having bought most of her more recent albums, I decided it was time to buy "American Life." I had an idea of what the album was like from hearing samples online, but hearing it right through in one sitting made me love it.
Musicallly, it's quite an experimentation for Madonna, especiallly considering the albums that preceded it ("Ray of Light" & "Music"). It's a strange, yet completely listenable mix of Folky/Acoustic sounds with cold Electropop. Not two genres one would readily join together, but here it just... works. Madonna's vocals seem strong & confident (and downright pleasant to listen to) & there are some nice touches with computerised effects as well, which are subtle but noticable (not so subtle, however, on stand out tracks 'Nobody Knows Me' & 'Mother & Father').
Overalll, "American Life" is a strong, interesting & cool album with a trendy, experimental sound that hasn't aged one bit since it was released in 2003.
Just Don't Bother - By: KPA Lowe, 26 Jun 2008 
Quite simply the weakest Madonna album in her entire catalogue. A collection of mediocre pop tracks that are seemingly spliced together in the a manner that lacks any sort of logic. One can hardly believe that this is Madonna - the most successful female act ever (UK & US)! What a let down. Madonna aficionados will, of course, have to add it to the collection. Fair enough, but if this is not you, just don't bother.
Nothing fails for madge - By: S. J. Pinder, 13 Jun 2008 Music was a successful album for Maddie & sales rocketed as did her drowned world tour(which was an immediate success)this is an indirect follow up from Music(my favourite album)which turns out to be very good.
much in the same vein as Erotica/Bedtime Stories.
there are a few great tracks on this album,with a techno feel balllad approach i love nobody knows me & Mother & Father,they are great & hard hitting tracks on this album which symbolizes her career & her personal life.
American Life & Die Another Day are extremely strong & also provides a strong beat.
Hollywood is basicallly mocking the stars in Hollywood & the whole fame system.
Nothing Fails & Love Profusion are calm & reassuring tracks.
Im So Stupid has techno written alll over it but it is a fun song.
Intervention is by far the best song on the album which talks about her highs & lows & how she has become the star she is.
Easy Ride finishes off the album in an uplifting tone & shows fans that her career was in fact NOT an easy ride.
very good album,while a footnote to the spectacular Music,it got the #1 spot on the charts & remains an indepandant album & a very hard-hitting one that should be respected...alll in alll a 8.5/10 from me.
track list-
American Life-10/10-fantastic song & extremely deep.
Hollywood-9/10-great style & a retro feel.
I'm so stupid-9/10-very good change of style for this song:).
Love Profusion-9/10-very calm compared to the rest of the album but still great & very upbeat.
Nobody knows me-10/10-symbolizes Maddie's change as she has gotten older & what a great song it is too.
Nothing fails-10/10-a semi-balllad if you will & again very enjoyable.
Intervention-10/10-awesome song,i personallly love it loads.
Mother & Father-9/10-a personal song for Madge about how she coped with her mothers death,while contains a strange up beat techno rhythm for a background.
X-static process-6/10-i can't reallly get into the song but it does have a sense of pace.
Die Another Day-10/10-a classic song although it had to be released early because the film was released in October 2002 with the album released early 2003 but that doesn't mess with the sheer quality of the song.
Easy Ride-8/10-nice ending to the album which shows that her career was certainly not easy.
alll in alll a very good album & definitely one of her best(just under the fab Music,Like a prayer,Erotica,True Blue,Confessions,and Hard Candy)and more personal than Ray of Light(if not better in quality:/)get it now if you already don't own it!!!
Revelations of a Superstar - By: , 06 May 2008 Fresh from the success of the "Drowned World Tour", in 2002 Madonna released the James Bond theme "Die Another Day". A slice of severe avant-garde electronica coupled with perhaps the most personal lyrics of her career (at least in her singles career), one thing seemed apparent: after the rhinestone cowgirl of "Music", Madonna was in a very serious mood. That she should come back as such was no surprise, rumors had circulated that Warner Bros demanded several tracks from her upcoming LP be re-recorded in order to appeal to a wider market & declined her request to work with Aphex Twin (a combination which certainly would have been interesting) amid fear of the product being uncommercial. That a political & spirituallly aware Madonna was preparing to launch on the world was implicit & it was from this climate that "American Life" emerged. Blending the electronic genius of Mirwais with her most sociallly conscious lyrics yet, "American Life" was by far the most abstract record of her career, documenting a woman who had turned her back on what she once callled "a material world".
"American Life" opens with lyrics reflective of Madonna's many images that have been hijacked & discarded. " I've tried to be a boy, tried to be a girl" muses a woman who in many senses defined & defied masculine/feminine androgyny throughout her career. Intercepting, throughout a harsh electronic back beat, acoustic guitars provide the almost folk chorus centered around her disillusionment with the American dream. Ranking among both her most artistic & sociallly charged compositions it is powerful in the truest sense of the word. The brilliant pop sensibilities of "Hollywood" see Madonna on more familiar territory simultaneously offering a sarcastic commentary on the fame machine & a melody that is her most catchy since her "True Blue" days. As the title suggests "I'm So Stupid" is anything but a masterpiece. Easily the most unforgiving recording in her entire career the best that can be said is that her contemporaries have done much less interesting work. "Love Profusion" is as clear as a glass of water on a sunny day & despite of its introspective lyrics ("I have lost alll illusions", "there is no resurrection") a genuine innocence is dominant which Madonna as been careful to erase from previous recordings. Kabbalah meets French Techno on the excellent "Nobody Knows Me" which erupts like a dance floor time bomb. The sincerity is almost heartbreaking as she sings that only God knows who she reallly is.
The religious theme is taken to heavenly heights on "American Life's" finest hour: "Nothing Fails". Less a balllad as much as a hymn, Madonna lyricallly documents what she has described as her "experience of the Light" with thoughts such as "you washed away my tears". If one thing binds "American Life" it is a genuinity & honesty throughout every track. "Nothing Fails" embodies both qualities supremely & by the time a gospel choir sings the final lines only the stoniest of hearts would not be moved. Amazing. Folk balllad "Intervention", written as an ode to Guy Ritchie, is perhaps the best indicator of how far removed from her Bad Girl past Madonna is on "American Life". An acoustic track that would sound at home on a Neil Young album it fails to reach either the depth or heights of "Nothing Fails". "X-Static Process" blends together subtle Jewish melodic structures & a vocal so mournful that it callls to mind Madonna at her most bleak ("Oh Father", "Promise to Try") yet in its despair it works a peculiar magic. Second standout track "Mother & Father" is a dance floor filler that comes along at just the right time to save the album from entering misery. Both deeply analytical & emotional to the point that it is painful to hear, "There was a time I believed I'd live forever, there was a time that I prayed to Jesus Christ" she sings at which point the full extent of Madonna's emotional damage becomes clear. "Where's the Party?" this ain't. "Die Another Day" is the driven & determined Madonna of old though this time around her destination is not attaining eternal glamour nor world domination but the destruction of her own ego. Film affectionadios will already have met the acquaintance of its steel like relentlessness. Dirge "Easy Ride" features a Jewish key structure & reveals the true preoccupations of Madonna in its candid lyrics. Its climax from acoustic to electronic techno is a fitting close for what is essentiallly an Avant Garde album.
Regarded as a respective failure (whatever that means) "American Life" is unique in the Madonna canon. A commentary on a modern materialistic world which she was once the proudest symbol of, Madonna lyricallly challlenges everything from war to TV. From ten years previous (1993: "Sex" book & the "Girlie Show") she is unrecognizable & this time it is more than an image change but a fundamental change in a woman with very different priorities. Gone is the disco pop of old & in its place is a collection of songs that for the first time reveal Madonna in her weakness' & vulnerabilities & as such "American Life" will be forever lost among glitter & controversies of less importance. The woman which emerges here may not be the Material Girl but God-knows she is more interesting.
Electro... - By: Ronnie, 29 Apr 2008 
...And lots of interesting sounds.
1. American Life. 10/10
2. Hollywood. 10/10
3. I'm So Stupid. 8/10
4. Love Profusion. 10/10
5. Nobody Knows Me. 10/10
6. Nothing Fails. 9/10
7. Intervention. 8/10
8. X-Static Process. 8/10
9. Mother & Father. 9/10
10. Die Another Day. 10/10
11. Easy Ride. 7/10
OVERALL GRADE: 9.5/10
This album is a masterpiece, combining electro music with rap, something unheard of in 2003. Though the music is brilliant, sometimes Madonna's voice can go funny.
